HBO Pours Some Fresh Milch

Well, that was quick. John from Cincinnati aired its last episode Sunday, and, never one to resist a Christ parallel, David Milch has risen again three days later to start work on his next series for HBO, according to Variety:

Sources said the creator will develop the project about a Vietnam veteran who returns to the U.S. in the early 1970s and joins the New York City police force. Story is loosely based on the experience of longtime Milch collaborator and fellow “NYPD Blue” exec producer Bill Clark, who is developing the show with Milch.

OK, so on the one hand: David Milch + New York cops = peanut butter + chocolate, etc. On the other hand: not quite as mind-blowing a concept as JFC, or the series concept Milch had pitched HBO before Deadwood, about Roman cops in the time of Nero. But we saw with Deadwood what remarkable things he can do with period drama, and as for this period, the hints he dropped in JFC with Vietnam Joe seem to indicate there is a thing or two he’s dying to say about it. I’m hoping they shoot it here in NYC.

I watch HBO because I like watching charismatic men trying to kill each other. These new shows (JFC, the show about couples therapy) leave me cold. With Rome, Deadwood, and the Sopranos gone, all I have left is The Wire.

And that’s gone after one more season. With a stable of domestic drama Big Love, couples-therapy drama Tell Me You Love Me, and yet another therapy drama, In Treatment, on tap, HBO may want something just like this to butch itself back up a bit.